What even is the damage amount returned? With health values approaching 300,000, it would have to be a significant amount to justify taking it. The problem is value, or lack thereof, about this set. Kolto Overload is on such a long cooldown and only procs on the trigger. Maybe if it procc'ed each time Kolto healed, it might be worth a try. Concentrated Fire and Apex Predator get extreme value during a match that it's hard to pass up. I'd be interested in trying out the Squad Leader's set. If the ally shield amount is decent and with the shield CDR utility, it could fit a niche team support role.

More MMO content, Less Single-Player Story content.

2 bars are stacked with another pair to the right. I feel like a lot of newer Merc players do not know about this. Can be very clutch. This utility gets so much value through the course of a match that it's hard to argue for replacing it. I never not take it. I like this tactical a lot, along with Burning Bright, but it does have some drawbacks: If Priming shot misses, then no extra damage. Same for Burning Bright. It breaks soft CC A few more tips: You can dump a 4 stack Rail Shot to secure a kill. Not always necessary to cast Tracer Missile for 1 more stack. Same for the heal, a 4 stack heal has almost no cast time. I always Missile Blast first and look for the Root Icon on their bar then send Electro Net. This guarantees that net will land and not get resisted during roll, blitz, etc. Also, root doesn't add resolve. You can stun first then net but the stun might white bar and now cc breaker will clear hard stun and net. Save your instant Tracer Missile until after the first Blazing Bolts. This resets the cooldown on Blazing Bolts and you can fire off 2 back to back. Use Missile Blast root to adjust your position to get a good knockback. The root doesn't add resolve so this is ideal if you're aiming to knock them off the map or into hazards. Always cast Kolto Shot onto yourself or allies while moving to objectives. Hold Hydraulic Override until you get full resolve so you don't get stunned through your entire HO duration. Not always possible but ideal. Use interrupt ideally on spam abilities: i.e. Rapid Scan, Tracer Missile, Thundering Blast. Interrupt at the end of casting for all abilities. They waste time casting if you wait until the end. Save Rocket Out until after gap closers are used to get to you. It also has a small cc immunity during animation. The most important skill to learn for Arsenal is Kiting. Know how to cycle Missile Blast root, Blazing Bolt slow, Net, and Tracer Missile slow (utility).

As a main Mercenary player that only does PvP, I use every ability except Supercharged Celerity. Death from Above for Yellow AoE damage Sweeping Blasters for White AoE damage and to spam interrupts Explosive Dart as your last ability before death to AoE interrupt channels for buying a few more seconds Fusion Missile in Innovated Ordinance spec. Tech Override before Full Auto/Blazing Bolts or DfA/Sweeping to save heat Stealth Scan instantly on vanishes/cloaks Power Surge with Concussion Missile or Rapid Scan Mercenary has a lot of abilities. I have almost 4 full bars 1-9, Shift 1-9, Ctrl 1-9, q,e,r,f,x,c Check out my Mercenary Arsenal/IO PvP YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdYrALX70uf4_3czGZK-B0g

During 4.0 - 5.0, that rotation that I mentioned used to get people to around 20% life in about 2 GCDS. Spamming Missile Blast got me a lot of quick kills. In 6.0, the health values are really high so I can't really get the same results with it anymore. This I did not know and just tested it. Very useful to know. Thanks. I like to play IO with minimal cast times so I never open with Serrated Shot. Rotation is less relevant in PvP since enemy DCDs can easily mess up the rotation anyway. Taking the Heat Reduction upon being CC'ed utility in the first tier is a must to play this spec (honestly, I take it in all 3 specs. The value is insane) and thus makes heat management much easier. Tag and Bag is a really lackluster PvP utility compared to other options. I can honestly say that I've never taken it in PvP, nor will. The Improved Vent Heat in the first tier gives almost the same Alacrity and also vents more heat. This is apparently the best in slot set for all 3 specs so I will be going after this. Thrill of the Hunt is not really as necessary in IO as it is in Arsenal and Bodyguard. Full Auto is 14 second cooldown and if you position yourself properly, you can freecast it. I usually try to use it immediately after Missile Blast root or when they are stunned/slowed/netted. You really are sacrificing better utilities for something that doesn't see much value once you learn to not have it. It honestly depends on the situation because the duration can get way more value than the 2 charges. Remember that defense chance can block yellow and white damage while also allowing you to resist stuns. The 2 absorb charges only block the damage but not the stun effect. If you are getting tunneled by 4 people in Ranked, IO Chaff Flare can resist a ton more damage and potentially fatal hard stuns. Four people will eat up 2 absorb charges in less than a second. See first comment. One last tip that I remembered while playing this weekend: If you cast Incendiary Missile immediately after Fusion Missile cast, it will get to your target first and spread the DoT.

I actually prefer IO in PvP over Arsenal but without the set bonus yet, my kill pressure is not very high in IO. I used to be able to melt any class with a high DoT / burst combo which would usually catch people off guard and they wouldn't even use a DCD. Incendiary Missile -> Mag Shot -> Serrated Shot -> Electro Net -> Thermal Detonator -> Supercharged Gas -> Full Auto -> Mag Shot -> Missile Blast execute spam. You clip the Full Auto to land the Mag Shot before Detonator explodes to proc the additional DoT. This combo used to get my so many kills, it was more reliable than Arsenal combo. Until I get the Concentrated Fire Set, I'll probably remain Arsenal. Once I'm ready for Ranked, I will switch to IO. In my opinion, IO Chaff Flare is far superior than Arsenal Chaff Flare. Also, IO doesn't require you to take Thrill of the Hunt utility so you can take the AOE and Stun Damage Reduction Utility. I played a lot of IO in Ranked last season and came to the conclusion of the following: IO is better in 4v4 DPS and 3DPS 1 Tank matches while Arsenal was better in 3 DPS 1 Healer matches IO Chaff Flare is better than Arsenal Chaff Flare Arsenal off-healing is better than IO off-healing I do not like tacticals for either spec. The 2 main Arsenal ones are tied to Priming Shot, which is useless if it misses. I only have 1 IO tactical at the moment, increased damage / duration on Supercharged DoT but it doesn't seem quite impactful for me just yet.

They either have full resolve, you are trying to stun/knockback during entrench, or they resisted your stun/knockback during/after roll. For snipers, look for the little purple man icon on their buff bar. That is Entrench and makes them immune to cc for the duration. You have to save your stuns until it expires. For Operatives, concealment resists everything for 1.5 or so seconds after roll. You just have to know the timings. Best way to beat them is to play and learn the class yourself.

Cure does work in PVP and removes up to 2 negative tech or physical effects. I think it removes some DoTs and slows. If you play Bodyguard spec (Healing), it removes mental effects like mezzes and saps. As DPS spec, I usually use it between combat as I don't want to waste a global on Cure during combat.

I like playing with "Primed Ignition" so far. I find I'm able to get more damage value out of it. Usually 2 BB, 1 HSM, and a few TM all procing from a single PS. The down side of it is that it breaks your Concussion Missile mez so you can't spam heals to gain an advantage or get away. I also don't like that both Burning Bright and Primed Ignition are reliant on your Priming Shot hitting which doesn't always happen which leaves you with a dead Tactical until the cooldown is done. I'm anxious to try the AOE HSM and Rocket Out root once I can afford them. Wasn't Merc supposed to get a Rail Shot splash Tactical? That would be interesting to try as well.

What good would these sets do if you get opened on and globaled? I think these best use of this set would be constantly spamming it on stealth and keeping near them. Can we hear from some stealth mains about how being revealed prematurely affects their gameplay or opener? I'm still going to try this because I'm curious.

I am returning to the game for 6.0 and looking to get back into Ranked Solos. I've been reading a lot about the current class meta which places stealth classes as top-tier. As a mercenary main, I do not want to play another class and just want to dedicate my time to improving my class' mechanics and understanding of new tacticals/sets. My theorycraft build is an anti-stealth build for Powertech and Mercenary designed to use Stealth Scan efficiently and frequently. This build relies on the Hunter Killer set: (2) +2% Endurance (4) Stealth Scan also applies Stealth Protection to you, scanning a small area around you. Each discipline has their own utility point which improves some functionality of Stealth Scan Mercenary: Reduces Stealth Scan cooldown by 5 seconds and improves stealth detection level by 3 Powertech: Reduces Stealth Scan cooldown by 5 seconds and roots revealed enemies for 3 seconds while granting movement speed for allies How viable would something like this be? Stealthers: How does being revealed from stealth affect your gameplay or opener?

I actually prefer IO to Arsenal for PvP, especially for Solo Ranked. It has good pressure and pretty decent burst. Resource management is a non-issue if you take the proper talent in the first tier. With all of the stuns, knock-backs, and such in the game, that utility gets so much value and in my opinion makes or breaks the spec for PvP. It doesn't have an internal cooldown or rate limit so you can just purposefully walk into enemies to get crowd controlled and almost instantly you are back to 0 heat. That utility also provides a 10% damage/healing increase to the next Tech ability when it procs. I'm not sure if that even has an internal cooldown either. The burst is easy enough to setup if everything hits. The rotation allows for almost everything to be instant cast except for Fusion Missile. I've killed several people in one global that were sitting at 40% not expecting the damage. In my opinion, Chaff Flare is also superior in IO spec. Everything has a chance to be resisted including white damage, yellow damage, and stuns. Two charges of absorb are easy to play around. Most people use white damage until the charges fall off. I prefer durations rather than charges for defensive cooldowns. You are also immune to interrupts during the duration. IO spec also gets a nice finisher with Missile Blast which, if taken the utility in the first tier, also doubles as a root. You will be spamming this ability so the increased damage is nice and the root is so strong versus all of the mobility currently in the game. Since Full Auto isn't a priority in the rotation, you get to free up a utility not needing Thrill of the Hunt anymore. I usually take damage reduction while stunned utility which I wouldn't be able to in Arsenal spec. The improvement to Rapid Scan is not as strong as Arsenal but only because it doesn't have the increased healing amount. In Arsenal, you still have to sacrifice your stacks to use it but it's better than IO spec. The AoE is also much better for both Sweeping Blasters and Death from Above. You can also spread your Supercharged Burn with Sweeping Blaster provided you spread your Incendiary Missile first. My only complaint about the spec is that the spread mechanic is just awful and needs some kind of rework (it used to be worse). If we got to keep Rail Shot in IO Spec, I would never play Arsenal again to be honest. The sound animation is just fantastic. Oh, and also Heatseeker Missile is nice too but the sound is bugged so it hardly ever goes off. The spec is an acquired taste. I play both in both Unranked and Solo Ranked and I find I have to cast more in Arsenal than IO and I can kite melee easier in IO as well. Play both and see what you like best! Check out my new channel; it's nothing but Merc and some PT https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdYrALX70uf4_3czGZK-B0g?view_as=subscriber

Regs: Any class or spec is viable Ranked: PT tank does okay but the other 2 specs do not. Fury Marauder is top tier whereas the other 2 specs struggle a bit.

Huttball is actually more fun than any other objective based map we have, to me of course. No one has to guard or run orbs, everyone has something to do at all times during the match. Heal the ball carrier, guard the ball carrier, get into position for a pass, contest mid to keep ball control, etc. If they would just fix "The Pit" in both Classic and Vandin, Huttball would actually be more enjoyable. I do love playing them but it drives me crazy how easy it is to score. A few changes that I think would make HB more interesting: 1) Enemy stealth are visible in your own endzone. If you can't stop the ball carrier, at least you should be able to kill or knock off his receiver and make them go through the obstacles. 2) Ball carrier entering "The Pit" should take increased damage stacking over time. Such as 1% per second or something. Removed when ball is passed. 3) No more Phase Walk placement past the enemy fire traps. I hate this ability with a passion for objective play. It nullifies any map design or mechanic and now Bioware is giving it to another class. 4) Traps should be instakills. No more rolling through traps, no more Rocket Out/Propulsion Round through traps, no more Bubble in trap. If you are the ball carrier and die in a trap, the ball should be reset. The shock traps in Vandin are good. Leave those as-is. 5) Holding the ball for long periods should reduce healing instead of instakilling. Reduced healing received by ball carrier the longer they hold the ball. Such as 1% per second or something. Removed when ball is passed. 6) Restore movement speed of ball carrier to normal combat speed but disable movement speed abilities. This way no class is better than any other at moving the ball and will incentivize people to pass more often. De-sync issues aside, the most glaring problem with these 2 maps is how fast a team can score by simply running into the pit and tossing it up to a stealther who hasn't been noticed. A decently coordinated team of randoms can score in less than 20 seconds. Rinse and repeat.

Not bad. @5:33 that 38.8k + 25k + 14k was juicy! Lucky crit procs. A few things: 1) You didn't use Decoy at all. Looks like it's not even bound to a key. Major DCD that you are not utilizing. Absorbs 2 Tech/Force attacks completely. Had you been on the receiving end of that almost 40k Explosive Round and timed it correctly, it could be completely absorbed by Decoy. In IO/AS, it gives 35% Defense Chance for a few seconds which allows it to potentially resist cc as well as damage. I prefer the IO version. Sadly, nothing for heal spec 2) You don't have any Warzone Damage Reduction Stims (blue). It gives you 15% Damage Reduction for a few seconds. I always use mine when I Kolto Overload so it makes it harder for enemies to burst through it. If I remember correctly, it loses value if you use it with Energy Shield as the 2 percentages 25%/15% stack multiplicative and not additive. Meaning: .25 * .15 < .25 + .15. So never use them together to get full value. 3) If you have no Defensive Cooldowns left and no more healing, you can click off Energy Shield from your buff bar to trigger the healing early if you have stacks. This will allow you to squeeze in a few more GCDs to potentially get another DCD back or get the killing blow. If you are at 10 stacks and need the healing instead of the Damage Reduction, click it off. Very important to remember! 4) This tactic is my most favorite of all. If I am playing capping objectives such as Void Star or ACW, or Hypergate and I'm going to die to a single enemy or multiple, I always try to make my last GCD the Sticky Grenade. It has a few second delay on the AOE explosion. The explosion usually interrupts all the channels and buys 1-3 more seconds for teammates to get there. You'd be surprised by how many times this saves your objective. 5) This only applies to Commandos and is a bug but E-net works through Shroud. I also just starting making videos of my Mercenary gameplay, sometimes PT. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdYrALX70uf4_3czGZK-B0g

We could monitor his YouTube channel and see if he continues to make SWTOR videos. I happened to have stumbled upon it today. Turns out, he is a clicker. No wonder he cheats.

I don't understand this. From a PvP perspective, this is way too strong and needs to be changed. Fury Marauder is already one of the top performing specs in Ranked because of the built-in CC immunity. With proper ability cycling and timing, this will essentially make them unstoppable. Their kill pressure is already so high. I severely hope that this doesn't stack and proc with Interloper utility. What is the counter for this supposed to be? Knockbacks? I don't do Flashpoints or Operations but surely there can't be that many mobs that instantly use some form of CC as their first ability to warrant this absurd addition to the Warrior kit.

This is great. Thank you and to everyone who is part of this initiative. I hope these continue to be a monthly thing. Two questions I have: 1) Is it possible for you to add what servers these accounts were banned on? -----For example: -----Accounts banned on Satele Shan: 3 -----Accounts banned on Darth Malgus: 10 -----While remaining vague enough to not violate ToS, but specific enough for us to know that our server PvP -----experience will have improved. 2) What is your policy for violations and will you permaban if violation is egregious enough to warrant it?

I was hoping I'd find your channel. I was whispering with you after the fly-hacking occurred. It's kind of funny how he tries to "coach" you all with tips and tricks for Ranked when he clearly loses the round. Every time I see this person, I call out to have him votekicked before the match even starts. No one ever does because they want the easy win once they see that he is cheating and will win the round. Those people condone this type of behavior and are just as responsible for degrading the little remaining integrity of Ranked Solo play. I would gladly take a Loss to votekick cheaters. I'm not playing to fight the system and cheaters. I'm here to fight other players, fairly. It's disheartening because it's clearly been posted and discussed before here on the PVP forums but those posts get deleted for violating the ToS for posting said players information. There is clearly enough evidence to ban this player twice over but yet he is still trolling games. For some players, PvP and more specifically, ranked Pvp, is the only content that we enjoy and pay our monthly fee for. We are calling out to Bioware for help to save our content and it falls on deaf ears, mostly. How hard is it to just do a quick investigation of the evidence, determine that this is in fact cheating, ban said player permanently, lose $15/month, but keep ($15/month times x number of satisfied players). From a business standpoint, this should be a no-brainer. Cut off the bad apple from your tree so that the rest of the good apples can flourish and grow. (Cheesy analogy, I know) /rant over After losing match to cheater: Me: gg cheater: gg dude cheater: cry more me: cheat more

Just filter the item. Doesn't matter how many are listed, by who, and for how much. Only 1 of any item is listed with the filter on so now I only have to browse through 30+ pages of an armor piece or weapon opposed to 100+ because of multiple listings of the same item. If you would like to search for better pricing of that item turn the filter off and do an advanced search of that item.

All of the leaps and teleports work on the Y-axis but they all require a target. Leap, Intercede, Obliterate, Jet Pack, Shadow Stride, Holotraverse. This change would make it be the only ability with this type of functionality so it may be a bit strong but Rocket Out is still pretty bad in its current form.

Sometimes I just want to browse GTN while queued for WZ to put together another outfit or browse weapons. A lot of time and space is wasted skipping multiple listings of each item. Is this option in-game already and has it been hiding from me for 7+ years? If not, can we get a small change to GTN to filter duplicate listings? Not duplicates from Seller but from Item. Find the item you like then Advanced Search of that item for best pricing.

when was this taken? i think i was in that match, as a merc obviously. sorry not sorry

When Rocket Out first came out with all of the other mobility talents, it was probably the worst out of the bunch. I've gotten pretty proficient at using it to escape or to gap-close with the 180 turn Rocket Out. With the new tactical items and set bonuses in 6.0 changing base abilities and advanced class abilities, I would like to offer a suggestion to change Rocket Out as a baseline ability modifier. Rocket Out now becomes a targeted reticle and the Mercenary rocket propels to that area. Allow it to work with the vertical or Y axis (jumping to platforms above you or below you). Think Heroic Leap from Warrior in WoW. Without the utility in tier 4 to keep people from leaping to you, it doesn't really keep melee off you as they can just speed right over to you. With this functionality, breaking Line of Sight will be much easier and will actually act as an escape which it was initially designed as.

It may sound stupid but when I was running my Merc in healing spec for PVP, I actually used the DPS 4 piece bonus just to get the cooldown reduction on Energy Shield. That extra 15 seconds made it feel like it was always ready to use if you specced into all 3 shield talents on tier 3 and you pretty much became unkillable. I wish the set bonuses weren't tied to spec but to base abilities available to all specs that way switching specs doesn't require a whole other set of gear.